Łódź Film School was established post-war and became an important academy for everything to do with film-making. (It occurred to me that this was what made Polanski’s “Knife in the Water” so different from Godard’s “Breathless”: both ground-breaking, but one demonstrating professional excellence rather than freewheeling amateurism.) Although Poland was part of the Eastern bloc, the film school was as liberal as it could be.
Kanal, Andrzej Wajda, 1957
The first film about the 1944 Warsaw Uprising. Factual and heartfelt, focusing on a small contingent of rebels who are probably all doomed. Perhaps slightly cathartic for those people who had lived through it; perhaps also elements of national feeling.
Man on the Tracks, Andrzej Munk, 1956
The film begins on a train with the death (suicide?) of a railway engineer and from there it’s a flashback to what led up to it. It’s a film rooted in and about working life – no “Titfield Thunderbolt” whimsy here – and the impact of new working practices on workers.
Knife in the Water, Roman Polanski, 1962
I saw this film some years ago but can’t remember where the knife ends up. It’s the most obviously avant garde on the three films and has nothing to do with Polish history or everyday life. (State-sanctioned films were expected to have “socialist elements”.) A privileged couple pick up a hitchhiker and take him on their sailing boat for a day on the lake. There are all kinds of tensions and some very stylised (and stylish) shots. It was all shot on location – which must have been difficult on board a boat, but it does lead to some interesting compositions.
Aides memoires part 3 